China "instant buildings": Just add labour, fireworks and a cow

May 14, 2012|Reuters

By Terril Yue Jones

YUEYANG, China, May 14 (Reuters) - As a crane lowered asteel-and-concrete slab onto support pillars, constructionworkers swarmed around to bolt it down - a choreography ofmad-dash steps against a backdrop of firecrackers, and asacrificed cow, to herald China's latest "instant building".

The three-story structure, a workers' cafeteria, was just aside note to a 30-story hotel built over 15 days outside thiscity in Hunan province in December. Both are examples of thestreamlined construction being pioneered by China's BroadSustainable Building (BSB).

"There is an urgent need for construction security,especially energy-saving in construction, and this touches onconserving materials," Zhang Yue, Broad Group's founder andchairman, told Reuters in an interview at his headquarters inChangsha.

Over the last decade China has seen one of the biggestconstruction booms in history to house a surging urbanpopulation and an expanding industrial sector. But with thatconstruction have come worries about environmental destruction,waste and shoddy buildings.

Zhang argues that his buildings represent just the opposite.

The subsidiary of Hunan-based cooling systems maker BroadGroup finished the T30 Hotel in record time, a feat captured ina time-lapse video that has garnered nearly 5 million viewsonline.

Zhang said he had been appalled at how many poorlyconstructed buildings collapsed in the 2008 earthquake inSichuan province that left more than 87,000 dead or missing.

"To truly safeguard humanity, and guarantee we live insecurity, regardless of where, structures should be all-steelconstruction," said Zhang, a spry, intense man in his early 50s.

Prefabrication has long been studied but not widelyimplemented in commercial buildings, says Steven Moore,professor of sustainable design at the University of Texas.

But despite an image of assembly-line flimsiness,"prefabrication can contribute to higher-quality construction,which in turn improves efficiency with less energy consumption,"Moore said.

"What I find interesting about what they're doing is thatthey're now becoming almost like automobile makers," by adaptingprefab techniques to construction, Moore said in an interview.

"It's not exactly surprising to me that thisround-the-clock, rapid construction system would emerge first inChina," said Moore, pointing to China's regulations are lessstringent regarding worker safety and overtime pay than in theWest.

Broad's use of non-electric chillers powered by natural gasand waste heat is a significant step for greater energyefficiency, he added.

EASY TO LEARN

"It's very easy to learn the construction - all the workersneed to do is fasten the bolts," said Liu Zhijian, a 23-year-oldsite worker from the nearby city of Loudi.

"There's no welding, no dust, no water," he said. "It's notat all like traditional construction, which is all about bricksand concrete."

The process keeps costs down as well, about 4,000 yuan($635) per square metre. At 4,500 square metres, the cafeteriacomes to 18 million yuan ($2.8 million). Broad says that is upto 30 percent cheaper than conventional buildings.

The approach is relatively straightforward. Workersprefabricate flat modules at two factories in Yueyang, about 90minutes north of the provincial capital of Changsha.

The tops of the modules, the largest of which measure about4 x 15 metres, are covered with flooring. On the undersides,forming the ceiling of the floor below, air and water pipes arepre-installed, to be connected once the modules are in place.

BSB estimates it produces 90 percent of its buildings in theplants.

The process also leaves little trash behind.

"We have only 1 percent of construction waste at buildingsites," said Shang Dayong, a worker from Ningxia province whocame to learn the quick-build process to teach others back home.

"With these buildings, we can tear them down and rebuildthem somewhere else."

Ningxia is also vulnerable to earthquakes, so BSB buildingshave extra appeal, Shang said. BSB claims its structures canwithstand earthquakes up to magnitude 9.0 - similar to thedevastating quake that hit northeast Japan last year.

Zhang has bigger plans. He has his eyes on a 50-storeyquick-build structure in the near future and is seekinginvestors for a 220-story behemoth in Yueyang.

"We realised we must build very, very tall buildings inorder to protect the Earth," he says. "We must reduce ourdependency on roads and transportation."